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NCAAB Picks

NCAA Tournament Odds for Midwest Region

Michigan tops the Midwest
Region in terms of seeding, but will the Wolverines be the NCAA basketball odds
favorites with defending the champion Louisville Cardinals also headed to Indianapolis?

Somehow, you knew this was coming, right? I'm talking about Wichita State
not completing a perfect season as well as another Louisville-Kentucky matchup.

Well, that's how I saw it anyway. The Cardinals and Wildcats are joined in Indianapolis by the
Michigan Wolverines and Tennessee Volunteers to complete this Sweet 16 quartet.

Louisville trails only Florida on the current
college basketball odds to win it all as a 7/2 selection to successfully defend
the 2013 NCAA title. The Cardinals first
take on the Wildcats (12/1) Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium after the other half of
the bracket, which pits Michigan (15/1) against
Tennessee
(20/1).

No. 2 Wolverines
Breeze Past Wofford, TexasMichigan (27-8 straight up,
18-14-1 against the spread) is the top seed remaining in the Midwest Region
after defeating the Wofford Terriers and Texas Longhorns in Milwaukee this past weekend. John Beilein's troops reach the Sweet 16 with
nine wins in their last 10 games (6-4 ATS), the only slip-up coming to rival
Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament Championship.

The Wolverines were expected to ease past Wofford, and they
lived up to those expectations with a 57-40 triumph as 15 point favorites. Michigan was
not supposed to have as easy of a time vs. Texas, but did anyway with a 79-65 decision
as 5 point chalk. Nik Stauskas led the
charge with 17 points as the Wolverines opened an 18-point lead in the first
half and never looked back to reach their second consecutive Sweet 16.

The Cardinals struggled a bit in their opener last Thursday
in Orlando, trailing Manhattan in the second half and needing a couple of late
treys to finally put the Jaspers away for the 71-64 win as 16 point
favorites. Defense helped The Ville Saturday
against No. 5 seed Saint Louis,
holding the Billikens scoreless in 15 attempts from beyond the arc for a 66-51
decision while laying 10.

Louisville now gets a chance
to avenge one of only five losses on the season when the Cards face Kentucky. The Bluegrass rivals met in Lexington just after Christmas, and the
Wildcats posted a 73-66 upset as small home 'pups.

No. 8 'Cats End
Wichita State's
Perfect SeasonKentucky
(25-10 SU, 17-17 ATS) did what no team had done this season, beat the No. 1
seed Wichita State Shockers. John
Calipari's crew rallied then held serve Sunday to hand the Shockers their only
loss of the season, 78-76, never needing the +4.5 Wildcat backers were getting
for their 5th-straight winning NCAA basketball odds ticket.

The game went down to the wire and featured more than two
dozen lead changes, with the Wildcats scoring the most points in a game on the
Shockers this season. Kentucky's 78 Sunday were 22 more than the
tourney opener against No. 9 Kansas State on Friday. A 56-49 victory in that win over K-State was
just enough to beat a 6-point line.

No. 11 Vols Only
First Four Entry LeftIf you had two Southeastern Conference teams making it this
far in the bracket, congratulations.
Kentucky was a fairly easy SEC pick, but Tennessee (24-12 SU, 19-13-2 ATS)
making it this far meant having the Volunteers
to get past Iowa in their play-in game, beating 6th-seed UMass plus
expecting them to upset Duke...unless you're telling me you had Mercer against
the Blue Devils.

Tennessee needed overtime to finish off the Hawkeyes in the
First Four contest last Wednesday in Dayton
where the Vols were 2 point underdogs. Tennessee was then installed as 6 point chalk vs. Massachusetts, and
covered that spread handily with an 86-67 triumph. Cuonzo Martin's crew followed that by
manhandling Mercer, 83-63, dominating the glass to cash a -8 spread, the
seventh cover in eight games for Volunteer backers.